SSTI Digest

A fun-filled evening of music, drinks and scrumptious hor d'oeurves awaits participants of SSTI's conference with the opening reception at the Marine Mammal Pavilion of the world-famous National Aquarium in Baltimore. This festive event is possible due to the generosity of Team Maryland, a group of 21 Maryland organizations supporting technology-based economic development in their state and region:

SSTI's annual conference is the field's most stimulating and rewarding professional development event of the year. We hope you are planning on joining us in Baltimore, Oct. 18-19. You can expect:

In addition to the 21-member Team Maryland, led by the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) and the University System of Maryland, SSTI's 11th annual conference is made possible by the support of its national partners. SSTI extends its appreciation and thanks to the generous support received by the following exemplary organizations:

California

California lawmakers reached a budget agreement last week, preserving brief funding for an initiative aimed at supporting high-tech research and innovation. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled the $95 million Research and Innovation Initiative in January to provide funding to several university-based projects focused on clean energy, biotechnology and nanotechnology research and commercialization (see the Jan. 8, 2007 issue of the Digest).

 

Last week, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority (ASTA) would receive $9 million through the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) to enhance the state's research capabilities. The new funds will be used to support a broad range of activities, from attracting world-class scholars to fostering entrepreneurship, in select technology areas.

 

The program, dubbed the Arkansas Advancing and Supporting Science, Engineering and Technology (ASSET) Initiative, will provide additional research funding to three of the state's university campuses: the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. These schools will receive financial support to establish two new research centers and to promote interdisciplinary and multi-institutional research in promising fields.

 

Implementing successful technology-based development initiatives in rural areas is an ongoing challenge for many parts of the country. Earlier this month, New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer signed legislation establishing a new program to stimulate employment and income growth by promoting cluster-based strategies in rural regions of the state. Sponsored by Sen. George H. Winner Jr., chairman of New York’s Legislative Commission on Rural Resources, Senate Bill 3234 outlines the Cluster Based Industry and Agribusiness Development Grant Program, which will provide seed grants of up to $25,000 on a competitive basis to community-based economic development corporations.

 

University technology transfer efforts have been the subject of considerable discussion of late, moving all the way to hearings on Capitol Hill. Whether or not broad changes may be afoot as debate continues on the merits of the Bayh-Dohl Act, but several universities are already tweaking, modifying or stepping up their efforts to establish new businesses in emerging fields through innovative approaches.

 

The incentive for university direct involvement in tech transfer can be significant as administrators seek new sources of revenue because the payoff to universities and local economic impact can, on occasion, be quite lucrative. Last year, the University of Massachusetts (UMass) generated its best take yet from commercialization of its intellectual property, a record $41.4 million across five campuses, according to UMass officials.

 

While colleges and universities are a natural breeding ground for new businesses, some universities excel at producing entrepreneurs and designing entrepreneurial programs that meet the needs of their community. Fortune Small Business Magazine recently released a list of 56 institutions that have embraced their role as educators of the next generation of successful entrepreneurs. These schools each provide a suite of programs and opportunities that have fostered active and consistent entrepreneurial activity among their students and within their region.

 

The list was compiled after interviews with entrepreneurs, faculty, students, administrators, alumni and venture capitalists. No rankings are given, but individual institutions are recognized for their achievement in training undergraduates, MBAs, executives and social entrepreneurs and in providing online opportunities.

 

Think back to the early 1980s. The structure of the U.S. workforce was very different than it is today. There were no such jobs as website designers; the mobile phone and personal computer industries were relatively tiny in size; and airline tickets were overwhelmingly purchased with the assistance of living, breathing travel agents. Simply put, advances in technology and computing ability created new employment opportunities and eliminated the need for a variety of jobs.

 

You can bring the whole team to SSTI's 11th Annual conference in Baltimore, Oct. 18-19. Members receive a $100 discount on up to seven conference registrations. Multiple attendees from the same organization allow broader coverage of more of the 19 concurrent breakout sessions, greater networking opportunities with more of the field's top thinkers and practitioners, and super savings on registrations. We encourage you to check out the brochure or the conference website soon to see what we have in store for this year's exceptional conference: http://www.ssticonference.org